what i did on my summer vacation. intro

from the Merritt dock, Christina Lake, BC
photo by Kyle

written August 25, 2008.
It is mid-morning, and I am sitting on a couch over looking the water of Christina Lake. The weekend cottagers have gone home, and the lake is quiet – no boats out yet. The cabin is also quiet – everyone is up, but snoozing or reading, talking in whispers and gingerly making tea as if we don’t want to wake up the day. I like that – trying to sneak-up on the beginning of the day. I am realizing that it has been maybe five weeks since I have written anything. It is the first time that I have really been in front of a computer screen for any length of time in almost as long. I semi-finished my third year just over four weeks ago (I still had two weeks of elective time left, but it was spent at camp) and since then I have been to the Okanagan for a week at camp, to Clayoquot Sound for a 5 day kayaking trip, and to the Kootneys for ten, soon to be eleven days of time at Christina Lake/Castlegar with a variety of Kyle’s immediate/extended family and friends. I have had many the adventure, sleeping arrangement, reflection, interaction. Almost all of my time has been outside – in all kinds of weather, and I can count the number of showers I have had in the whole time on my fingers – and I can probably do the same with the number of days I have had access to a flushing toilet. I am feeling positive. I haven’t thought of the hospital or a patient in weeks. For the most part, my time has been low stress, save for the barrage of wedding questions, and the fact that in order to sanely accomplish what we need to in our time off, we needed to be back in Vancouver yesterday instead of tomorrow. On the list of things to do is clean and pack the apartment for the sub-letter, find a place to live in Duncan and Mayne Island for October, organize paperwork for school, buy a car, attend a wedding (after finding something to wear) and, spend some time with my own family before leaving town for another two months. Alas, our departure back home at 5:00am tomorrow morning, along with the return to high-paced-stress-filled-flushing-toilet reality of life will come soon enough. For now, I can still get away with sipping tea and writing about what I did on my summer vacation.